Fractures
by Willowtuft
Summary: Mizu was never a normal little girl, but at least she could fit in when she tried hard enough. That changed the moment she realized there was more than one person in her head.
1. Chapter 1

**IIII'MMMMM AAALLLIIIVVVEEE!**

 **Sorry to anyone out there who wanted more chapters from "Your Choice", but I think I'm done with that for a while. I might post another one-shot randomly every now and then, but I won't be focusing on it.**

 **This is an idea that's been floating around in my, erm, chaotic mind for a while now. It started out with Mizu as the main character, then it went to another awesome OC I created. I kinda maybe went fangirl crazy and gave her two bloodline traits among a whole bunch of other Mary Sue things. *Cough* romance with Itachi *Cough* BUT! I have gone back to Mizu as the main character for this story, and my other OC will be powered down. A. Lot. And no romance with Itachi. That was just weird now that I think about it... I blame teenage hormones. (Perfect excuse for any and all embarrassing crushes.)**

 **BUT ANYWAY! I will try to get more than eight chapters into this story. Writer's block has challenged my time and time again when it comes to completing any of my stories, and I have nearly always lost. HOWEVER. I do not intend to lose this time.**

 **With that said, on to the story.**

* * *

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

The child's breathing slowly fell into a familiar pattern.

In.

Out.

Normally she didn't have this much trouble calming herself. Normally she could focus on the task at hand and suppress her emotions. It was what she was trained to do. But now her fingers were twitching and her heart was beating in her ear and she just wished the sick feeling in her stomach would go away.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Nothing about this situation was normal. But she was a ninja and she would do what she must.

Mizu's eyes flew open as the stadium burst into cheers. The last match was over. The next one was hers.

Knees shaking, she slowly stood.

 **Remember, image is everything.**

 _I remember._

Though she doubted that she would have that much trouble playing the scared little girl today.

After taking one last calming breath, she carefully set down a wooden staff on the bench next to her.

"Winner, Naruto!" The proctor of the third exam said. "Next match, Mizu versus Tenten."

Mizu started towards the staircase, mentally rehearsing every detail of the plan she had come up with for this fight. Before she knew it she was stepping into the very arena she had dreamed about competing in for the last four years.

 **It's time to start acting.**

 _Yes, I believe it is._

* * *

The crowd gathered around the arena had seen two very exciting fights that day so far. The first, Shikamaru versus Temari, had been a battle of wits with a twist ending. The second, Neji versus Naruto, had been a battle of ideologies with both participants giving their all. Neither had failed to deliver the kind of excitement the civilian crowd craved.

But by the looks of the tiny, stuttering child that had just stepped into the arena, this one couldn't even be called a fight.

"I heard she graduated from the Academy at the age ten. Ten!" one plump matron gossiped to anyone who was listening.

"How old is she now?" another old housewife asked.

The first woman smirked at the expecting faces around her. She drew in a deep breath, allowing the suspense to build within the eyes of those paying attention, and finally said, "Eleven."

There was silence for a beat.

"No way!"

"She entered as a rookie?"

"She must be insane!"

"She's going to get crushed."

Then finally, "Shhhhhh, the match is starting."

The head proctor repeated the rules of the match to the two girls. "Are you ready?" he asked.

The older girl, Tenten, nodded firmly. Determination was written all over her face. Mizu started to nod, then froze, her eyes widening in horror.

"I left something really important in the competitor's box, can I go get it really quickly?" The dark-haired youth seemed to shrink in on herself as she glanced at all those present to witness her beginner's mistake.

The head proctor cocked an eyebrow at her. "Quickly."

Mizu nodded and took off.

"Well, she certainly is fast," a young woman sitting in the stands said, trying to find something, anything, that would make the forgetful genin look like she had any chance at all.

Twenty seconds later, a sprinting Mizu came back into view with her staff in tow.

"Okay, I'm ready now!"

The head proctor glanced at her with a look that clearly stated 'you are going to die' and said, "Begin!"

* * *

Tenten didn't waste a second on banter, instead, she pulled out two kunai and threw them directly at Mizu. Mizu quickly dodged to the left, only to land right in the path of three more. Thinking fast, she substituted with a rock nearby and brought up her staff to deflect another 'stray' kunai that had bounced off another and sailed past her.

 **Stop! You're acting like a real ninja should act, remember the plan?**

 _Oh, right._

Mizu promptly put on a shaky smile and stuttered, "Y-your p-p-pretty g-good, y-you kn-know." Tenten merely narrowed her eyes and brought out a shuriken.

 _It's not working!_

 **Patience child. You have to convince her.**

 _How?_

Her question was answered when her arm movement was promptly jerked from her control, and placed in another's. The shuriken Tenten had been holding a second before was suddenly uncomfortably close to her face, but try as she might, she couldn't raise her arms to defend herself. Her eyes widened in panic before scrunching closed in a horrible age-old habit. Then her arms were hers again and she hastily batted the shuriken away, wincing as it opened up an uncomfortable long gash along the length of her arm.

 **That's how.**

 _Are you crazy? I could've died!_

 **Hey, I'm helping you here. Obviously, your acting skills were lacking, so I just polished them up a little.**

 _I'm bleeding!_

 **You're a ninja.**

 _Are you trying to make me lose?!_

 **Not at all. Look at her, did you see how her eyes widened when you froze? Did you notice the relief on her face when you managed to deflect it in time? She's a feeling creature, use that to your advantage. You're a scared little girl, now make her feel like a schoolyard bully.**

 _...I hate you._

Mizu whimpered, settling into a shaky defensive stance. At the insistence of her 'friend', she glanced again at her newest injury.

Tenten's eyes also shifted to the younger girl's arm, and she kindly said, "You should forfeit now, you're clearly outmatched. You can always try again next year."

 _Wow, her emotions are practically made out of clay._

Mizu looked up at Tenten, then back at her arm, "Maybe..." she drew out the silence for a few moments before settling her features in an adorable look of determination, "No! I won't! I'm gonna see this thing to the end whether I lose or not!"

Tenten's face became unreadable.

 **I can read it, you nitwit.**

Well, at least to Mizu. She drew out five kunai and relented, "If you insist."

Mizu's eyes widened and she ran in the opposite direction, it never hurt to put a little space between you and certain death.

 **Stop here.**

Mizu skidded to a stop and faced her opponent once more. Something wrapped around her, knocking away her staff, and pinning her arms to her sides, and her legs together.

 _Why must you do this to me..._

 **Stop complaining or you'll miss your chance. Quick she's coming close to finish the fight now. Cut the wire and engage her in taijutsu. Make sure it's pathetic or I will.**

 _Uggg...Fine._

Mizu cut the ninja wire and launched a fist at the now much closer Tenten. Tenten merely caught the punch and swung her leg around. Mizu went flying into the nearest wall. Dragging herself to her feet, she quickly located Tenten.

 **Start the sniffles.**

Mizu forced tears to fill her eyes, before wiping at them furiously. Sniffling, she whispered, "I-I'm s-sorry, I r-really wanted t-to give y-you a g-good fight." Sniff Sniff Hiccup "B-but I g-guess I'm j-j-just n-not st-strong enough. I n-never am." Her lip quivered and she shut her eyes in supposed shame.

 **Now that's what I'm talking about.**

 _You're a horrible influence, you know?_

 **I know. Pay attention.**

It was at that moment that Tenten made a disastrous mistake. She lowered her kunai in the presence of her enemy. "Hey, hey, it's okay." Tenten's eyes now held nothing but absolute sympathy and understanding. "You are amazing for a kid your age, one day you'll be the one beating up on everyone in the arena. Don't give up so soon."

Mizu's eyes widened and her sniffles stopped. A small smile formed on her face as her face colored and she looked down, "C-can I she-shake your hand?"

"Sure." The foolish genin closed the distance between them, reaching out as she did.

 _Okay, so one strong knock to the head should do it. Hmmm...Will I be able to reach with enough power to knock her out? Oh, drat, she's almost here, why did I plan on punching her again? I can barely reach her head at my height!_

Suddenly her movement was wrenched from her control again.

 _H-Hey! Give me back my body! I want to do this!_

 **Not a chance. There is no way I'm letting you mess this up.**

Then her finger's started tingling in a horribly familiar way.

 _What are you..._

Tenten reached her, and quick as lightning Mizu's hand reached out and struck her in the neck. Tenten's eyes widened in shock, then filled with pain. She crumpled to her knees, screaming.

 _Stop it! You're hurting her!_

 **Patience child, unlike you, I can control this. It won't kill her.**

Mizu felt herself bend down to again tap Tenten's neck, this time, to stop the jutsu.

The stadium was deathly quiet. No one had thought the child stood any chance at all from the beginning, and yet, she simply touched her opponent and Tenten had collapsed, crying out in pain. Someone started to clap, but when no one else joined in they stopped.

"Winner, Mizu," the proctor said after what felt like an eternity.

As she exited the stadium, still not under her own control, a thousand questions buzzed around in her head.

 _Why? We had a hundred different ways to end that battle. Why do that to her?_

 ** _Your name will be known, whether you like it or not._**

* * *

 _ **Okay, so after I finished this chapter, I literally walked over to my sister's room, barged in (Without knocking, oops), shoved my computer into her hands and said,"Fix it." So any awesomeness this chapter may contain is a direct result of my sister's editing. In case you're wondering her username in Silverstorm13.**_

I allready have some of the next chapter written!

 **Tsk, only 52 words.**

Shut up inner voice! ANYWAY, I'm hoping to be able to update once every two weeks since my life is crazy right now, but I am currently working on the next chapter as I said before.

 **You mean I'm working on the next chapter. You're off daydreaming about Transformers.**

Shhhhhhh, the readers don't need to know about that...

 **(Ok, so I saved everything, but then I saw I had 1,974 words in this chapter, and I was like,"NNNNOOOOOOOOOO!" so I added this part to get it up to 2,000.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for not updating yesterday. I was going to fix the summary and then post the chapter, but I never got an idea for it. I just decided to get this out and fix the summary by next chapter.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Mizu didn't always have a voice in her head. During her childhood, she had felt impressions, half thoughts that came out of nowhere, but she had dismissed them, as most people are prone to do.

The first time she had thought anything of it was when Iruka-sensei had been reading off squad assignments…

* * *

Mizu sighed as she watched yet another graduate come into the classroom, do a double take, and then run to their friends to gossip about the ten-year-old sitting in with the older kids. It was starting to get annoying, she couldn't help it that she was short. She had to resist the urge to smooth down her clothing yet again.

 _I shouldn't have come so early. This is getting ridiculous. I should have just snuck in at the last minute._

One of the older boys, who obviously thought that they were all that and a bag of chips, came strutting over.

"Shouldn't you be in preschool?" He sneered.

 _Shouldn't you?_

"What's your name?" Mizu asked, despite knowing the answer. They had taken classes together for a year after all, though he had never bothered her till now. She had quickly become good at making herself invisible to older kids.

"Answer my question, and I might answer yours." He leaned up against her desk in a way that was probably supposed to be menacing. So he was determined to fight. Great.

Maybe a show of innocence would make him go away. Mizu turned her gaze downward and bit her lip. "I couldn't have failed even if I tried." _Oops, that didn't quite come out right._

"Hmph, I bet you got the worst scores of the class, other than Naruto." Another bothersome boy sidled up next to the one beside her. She saw two others looking her direction as well.

 _Just what I need. They're swarming! I am so not in the mood for this. Today's a happy day. I'm finally a genin! No time for bullies. Maybe it's time to change tactics._

"Have I done something to offend you?" Mizu's eyes met bully-number-1's. As an afterthought, she cocked an eyebrow.

Both bully-number-1 and bully-number-2 hesitated for a second, but bully-number-1 quickly recovered. "And there the baby goes, trying to be so superior," he spat.

Bully-number-2 blinked away the residual shock and followed up with,"Yeah, just because you graduated younger doesn't mean you're better than us."

"Actually, it does."

Bully-number-2's face started to turn an unusual color of purplish-red and bully-number-1 began cracking his knuckles. Fortunately, Iruka-sensei chose that exact moment to come through the door.

"Alright class, let's get started."

Mizu listened intently for her name as he called out the squads. The longer it took, the more anxious she became. She was ready to yell at Naruto when he protested to being on Sasuke's squad. Finally, she heard her name.

"Squad 10: Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Mizu Wakai."

Mizu's breath caught as she mulled over this information in her head. _The lazy butt and the fangirl._

 **Excellent.**

 _What was that?_ Mizu's eyes widened as she felt a familiar presence in the back of her mind, but as soon as she sensed it, it disappeared. Mizu closed her eyes slowly.

 _H-hello?_

It felt weird, calling out inside her mind. There wasn't supposed to be anyone else in her mind except her and the stray Yamanaka. But she could feel the voice, it was still there sitting in the back of her head. It didn't respond.

"Well? Are you coming?" Mizu started back into the real world to find a very, shall we say, 'lovely' face inches away from her own.

Taking a moment to reorient herself, she stuttered,"Y-yes, of course."

She followed the purple kunoichi to the door where the class' resident lazy butt and their new sensei were waiting. Her face colored a bit, and she answered their unasked question, "Sorry, I was daydreaming."

Her new sensei merely grunted and said, "That's fine, as long as you don't do it during training or on missions. By the way, I'm Asuma.

"Mizu."

"Shikamaru."

"Ino."

"We might as well get to know each other over lunch, how's barbecue sound?"

* * *

Training with Asuma-sensei went smoothly after the small "daydreaming" incident, and they passed the second test with flying colors. Mizu quickly grew attached to her squad mates, which surprised her quite a bit. She had never been one to get attached to people. On a happier note, Asuma was pleased with the progress they were making, both individually and as a team.

As they got to know each other, Ino became both the queen bee, and the mother hen of the team, and the girls found that both of their nagging combined was enough to drag Shikamaru out of bed before 10:00 a.m. The D-ranks went smoothly, well, except for the ones with Tora of course. Even the few C-ranks they received were completed successfully with few injuries. In fact, the whole thing seemed like a good dream to Mizu. But all dreams must end sometime.

* * *

The chunin exams had seemed like such a good idea at first. Take a test, go through a little survival training, and then fight an opponent in front of thousands of people to show off Konaho's might. Simple, right? NOT.

The part that they'd failed to mention, (Or maybe they had referred to it, she couldn't remember) was that by 'a little survival training' they meant almost certain death by giant bugs, tigers, and everything else out there. And that wasn't even mentioning the other teams trying to kill you.

All in all, this was not what Mizu imagined the chunin exams to be like. _Second timers must be mental or something._

Mizu never wanted to hear the word 'troublesome' again in her life. Shikamaru had been muttering it almost constantly for the past two days, and she was about ready to kill him. The only thing that was sparing the genin was his much-needed intellect.

"This is all such a drag," the young genius muttered as he almost tripped over yet another root. Mizu pinched her lips together and was about to respond when Shikamaru froze.

Out of nowhere a team of Sound ninja jumped down to where the Leaf shinobi were plodding, cutting off any potential escape routes, "Give us your scroll, now."

Shikamaru's eyes flickered, calculating, before he held up his hands in a peace sign, "I'm sure we can work something out.-" Mizu didn't even have time to scream his name before he went flying through the air, and out of sight. The only girl on the team followed him. One of the boys started at Ino while the one with tubes in his arm started for Mizu.

"Y-you're the one that hurt Kabuto!" Mizu accused.

"Heh, you're right little girl," he grinned in a way that made Mizu just want to run, "Figures they'd leave the easy one for me, selfish brats." He took a step forward, and Mizu took a step back, "But I guess I can still have fun with you." Mizu turned tail and ran.

* * *

Her wrist was broken, there was no way it couldn't be. An ordinary wrist just didn't look like that. Her left ear was deaf; her right ear could only hear muffled echoes. She was trapped like a mouse with her back up against a tree. The Sound ninja knew she was nearly defeated and was taking his sweet time strolling up to finish the fight.

"I don't have the scroll, I swear!" Mizu had lost track of how many times she had said that. She knew his answer by heart too.

"Which one of you team mates has is then?" It was always the same, every time. Next, he would charge, blast some ear shattering chakra at her, and kick her into something large and solid. He drew a sharp looking kunai and held in menacingly. Well, maybe not this time. "I think it's time to end this game." Mizu grunted in pain as he lifted her by her shirt, and held the kunai to her neck, "Enjoy the afterlife."

 _He's going to kill me._ The thought flashed through Mizu's mind, and she panicked. _He's going to kill me he's going to kill me he's going to kill me he's going to kill me he's going to kill me he's going to kill me he's going to kill me-_ She felt something tingle her fingertips, then it began to burn, and soon it felt like her hand was on fire. She instinctively grabbed the Sound ninja, and then the burning was gone.

Her opponent screamed. It was nothing like what she's ever heard before in her life, even mostly deaf. This wasn't of a cry of fear, or rage. This was a scream of 'something is burning me alive!'

Mizu was promptly forgotten and dropped on the ground, scuttling backward wide-eyed. She stared at her former opponent in shock as the screams slowly died down, replaced by terrible silence.

 **You're a natural.**

Then exhaustion took over, and darkness engulfed her vision.

* * *

When Mizu came to, Ino was hovering over her worriedly, while Shikamaru was leaned up against a tree a few feet away keeping watch. Ino was saying something, but now Mizu couldn't hear anything. Her eyes widened in shock when she realized there were tears in Ino's eyes. That wasn't right, Ino never cried.

The second Ino noticed she was awake, she crushed Mizu in an uncomfortably tight hug. Her bruises reminded her vehemently that they were still there. Eventually, she let go, and Shikamaru came closer. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. Why couldn't she hear?

Mizu tried to remember what happened. First the forest, the Sound ninja, then they got separated, then-Mizu breath hitched as she remembered the sound of her opponents screams. She recognized the clearing and turned her head to where he had fallen. She shut her eyes tightly at the sight of his...his corpse. She felt someone take her injured hand, but she didn't open her eyes to see who. Not when she had the possibility of seeing him again.

 _I didn't even know his name._

 **Poor child, such power should not be given to one who cannot control it.**

 _W-what! It's you again!_

 **Why of course it's me, who else would it be?**

 _Why are you speaking to me? You've never actually talked to me before._

 **Hmmm...Let's save the technicalities for later. First I've got to get you and your team out of here. That Sand ninja is coming too close for comfort.**

Mizu dared a peek at her surroundings. _Sand ninja?_

 **Don't worry your pretty little head about it. Your exhausted, I'll take over for now.**

 _Wait wha-_

* * *

Somehow during the time the voice had been in her head, she'd gotten to trust it. It had never hurt or misguided her before, until now. How could it have done that to Tenten?

Mizu screamed, thrashed, bit (Can you bite when you're inside your own head? Ah well, she tried to at least.), and tried every way she could think of to take back her body.

 _Let me go! You can't just take control whenever you feel like it! GIVE ME MY BODY BACK!_

Her little, seemingly insignificant childhood secret was turning out to be much more of a problem than she had ever imagined. Maybe after the fifth time she felt it she should have told someone, or even the fifteenth. Now it was too late. It was in control until the voice decided to hand her back the reins.

Eventually, she stopped trying to break free and focused on the matches below. Her 'friend' was kindly tracking the competitor's movements with her eyes.

Sasuke was fighting Gaara and managed to land a solid blow only moments before the Sand ninja had retreated into a sphere of sand.

 **Oh no.**

 _What?!_

White feathers fell, and Mizu passed out.

* * *

 **Reviews are like candy, and judging by how many cavities I've had in the past,(Like 7 or 8, lots and lots of silver in my mouth :) I love candy. So if you wish to give this hardworking author-**

 _ **Pft, 'hardworking'**_

 **Shut it Inner voice! Yes, hardworking. Now what was I saying again? Oh ya! I you with to give this hardworking author a little reward, (Mental candy) she ma very well be able to post the next chapter early. *gasps* Yes I said early.**

 **Bye!**


End file.
